He Who Laughs Last
by AbraFilo
Summary: Harley Quinn lay dieing in an alley and the Joker shows up, how will he react?


Disclaimer: I do not own Batman or any of it's characters and the events that take place are purely fictional and never occur in the Batman storyline (To my knowledge anyway, over 80 years and who can really be sure anymore)

She was dead. Plain and simple, or so he thought, upon closer inspection he could feel that she had a slight pulse still within her. The events of that night had unfolded in a dark and disgusting alley that was littered with garbage and smelt of urine. The Joker could clearly see the two bullet holes in the chest of her red and black suit. It was funny in an ironic way that she she had been mugged and left for dead but for some reason the Joker just couldn't bring himself to laugh or even care to find whoever had left Harley in such a condition. He could have helped her, he could have picked her up and walked into the street knowing someone would see them and offer assistance, he could have called an ambulance, hell he could have drove her to the hospital himself, he had the car. Something in him wanted to help but a louder voice told him to stay and not to lift a finger. The Joker sat down beside his girl on the cool gravel then turned to look at her face. She had been crying earlier, he could tell from how moist the paint around her eyes looked _"how alone she must feel"_ he thought. He didn't reach out a hand to comfort or strike her he just continued to silently wait. At the moment Gotham's favorite clown prince just didn't feel the need to waste any such gestures for another human being, even if he did mean the world to her.

Another while passed, that he wasn't sure about the length of but he was growing impatient and bored and had decided to finally end it. getting on one knee for better force and pulling the concealed knife from his sleeve he looked her over one last time. She was fighting so hard, hoping he would come to rescue her like he so often did but this routine was turning tired, old and worse yet no one found it funny anymore. The Joker woundered if she would hate him or understand he was doing it more out of mercy than anything else, he'd never become what she saw in him, even if he wanted to at times. Without another moments hesitation he brought the knife down and drove it deep into her almost still chest. Harley's body clenched but still she did not die so the clown prince carved into her the most meaningful thing he could think of. When he was finally done she was dead for sure and her beautiful blue eyes were wide open in shock and staring at him."What's wrong?" Joker asked in mock concern "You always said I had your heart".

That last remark had made him snicker because he had just finished carving a very cramped heart into her chest. considering he had to go through ribs to do it the Joker thought it was very well done. This little dilemma all finished he picked up the corpse under the knees and around the shoulders then dropped her into the nearest dumpster."For what it's worth" Joker said looking down into her shocked face "You meant something to me, I don't know what exactly but it was something. You do remember the time you asked if i'd be sad if you died and I said I wouldn't be happy? well it was more accurate than I could have thought at the time. As much as I like to hear my own voice I really must be going you've already wasted a good portion of my night and i'm a busy man, tootles". Then he stepped back, lit a match and threw it in, the fire caught immediatly. The Joker peeked over to see if she was catching and was pleased to see that she was. Then as he turned around he saw a familiar and beautiful light in the sky, the Bat signal.

"Oohh, I wonder what's happening" the Joker said to himself in a very excited tone like a child watching fireworks. Unable to bear the suspense he ran over to his car jumped through the open window and tried to turn on the ignition, put the car in drive and floor it all at once. He was gone within the minute without even having a second thought about the women who lay dead and burning in a dumpster that had devoted her life, mind, body and soul to him. Perhaps he'd think of her in a month, maybe he'd forget she had ever existed in only a week. In the end it never mattered that Harley had always laughed at his jokes or that she was always there at the drop of dime ready to do anything and everything he asked with less than nothing in return. It didn't even matter that she truly loved him to the point of obsession and could see past the happy, clownish exterior and makeout that he too was once human. All she could ever see was the human he had spun together out of lies and fragmented memories. Perhaps Harley Quinn's biggest failure was that she always overlooked what everyone else saw on the surface.

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**Authors Note:** Wow two day's and three reviews and three favorites, I think that's great for my first try at DC let alone something so short. This piece is probably going to extend a little farther in length after I get through with the grammar, spelling and a few add ins. Thank you for the reviews and favorites even before the first edit job was done, it means a lot.


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